Custom 7.82 (.308) Lazzeroni Warbird

I had one of the Sako m995 Warbirds and (stupidly) got rid of it. I think I'd like to build one this time. Where would you guys start? I have Weatherby accumark in 340wby I could use if it would fit..
 
My caution would be about the Lazzeroni choice on barrel twist. The one I dealt with was a conundrum. Huge case capacity, but a 12 twist that wouldn't stabilize a 180 class bullet. The end result was only about 75% case fill running 155 hammers. With all that case capacity, my suggeation would be to plan on running 180 to 245 class bullets, so twist with at least a 10, but preferably a 9 or even an 8 to run the heavies with all that powder capacity.
Good luck with it, let us know how it turns out.
 
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Salmonhead said:
My caution would be about the Lazzeroni choice on barrel twist. The one I dealt with was a conundrum. Huge case capacity, but a 13 twist that wouldn't stabilize a 180 class bullet. The end result was only about 75% case fill running 155 hammers. With all that case capacity, my suggeation would be to plan on running 180 to 245 class bullets, so twist with at least a 10, but preferably a 9 or even an 8 to run the heavies with all that powder capacity.
Good luck with it, let us know how it turns out.
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I had the same problem years ago. John was making rifles with 1/12 twist and now with better knowledge 1/10 to 1/9 is the sweet spot depending on bullet choice.
 
jstreater69 said:
Has anybody ever built a custom 7.82 (.308) Lazzeroni Warbird. I'm interested in this round and as a hypothetical I wanna know if someone has ever built one and how they did it, what receiver, barrel, and stock did you use? I'm aware that it isn't the best round but I'm not worried about that right now.
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Resurrection time... I have built 4 Warbirds. Using Defiance actions, Manners Stocks, Bartlien and Proof Barrels. Usleton Arms built our first 2 rifles, he has them still. Dane at DMR Rilfes in Vegas has the reamer I bought him. He built my last two. Well worth the money. Both rifles are pushing 212-215 gr. Bullets at 3124 and 3120 fps. They blow up most game! Meat seeking missles. Brass is made by Hornady. Old brass was soft, the new stuff gets me 2 more firings.

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I have plenty of brass for the Warbird and the Short mag. Patriot . Both are extreme killers . I ran the 200 plus grain eldx's out of the original 12 twist Warbird with 1/4 MOA accuracy out to 650 yds on paper. New barrel is a 10 twist. I love them both the Warbird and the Patriot.
 
I have an older M995 in the warbird and it's very nice. Any advantage over the same rifle in 30-378? Well, no. I like the Warbird beltless case and normal shoulder (as opposed to the Weatherby radiused shoulder) but practically I don't see any real difference. The M995 is the best non-custom action for these rounds. Will it shoot better than a Mark V? Again probably not.

If you really want a Warbird just wait for one to pop up. If you don't want to wait 30-378 M995's and Mark V's are much more common.

Going full custom is great if you can afford it. I would not recommend trying to modify a Rem 700 or anything else not really designed for the 416 Rigby sized case. People have done it but there have been lots of issues. Why look for trouble?

One exception: a quick and dirty solution if you really want a Warbird: get a 300 Win Mag Ruger No. 1 and rechamber it. You might have to change the extractor to the one from the 416 Rigby No. 1's.

Good luck!
 
Mr. Waveslayer , do you anneal your brass and full length resize? RCBS DIES? I had Wilson blank dies cut with my reamer , neck bushing , neck sizer only to run fireformed brass in my new barrels. In the past I have always run extreme but safe loads and have never annealed the Lazz brass . Have you annealed and how many firings before you loose the primer pockets?
 
tooth doc said:
Cant beat the cz 550 for this conversion. The weatherby is also a gr8 action for this. But then u might just consider the 300/378 weatherby. Its pretty much a ballistic clone, but i like you would prefer the beltless lazzeroni.
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i second that, i have a high regard for the 550 cz action, in one test i read it was head and shoulders above all other in strength and it is controlled feed! i, like you, prefer beltless cases , but i am coming to the realization. it is a pretty minor detail. for example, i have 300 wm, 300 rum. 300 wsm, 300 dakota and in the number rounds fired hunting i can really say i find any appreciable difference in the brass performance, feeding etc due to the belt. as you state the 30/378 is a ballistic twin. my 2 cents
 
Swamplord said:
FYI ....

While the 7.82 Lazzeroni Warbird is considered proprietary and technically does not have a parent cartridge to neck down and up from ..... It does share the exact same case rim & web dimensions as the 338 Excalibur/300 Pegasus that it is based on, both of those cases can be used to make Warbird brass, you'll have to cut them down, neck down to create a headspace shoulder & fireform, then turn the necks.. fairly simple work for wildcatters ..... John Lazzeroni shortened it to appropriate length for the actions and box/magazines he was working with at the time without sacrificing any performance, The Warbird is a very well designed cartridge that is capable of extreme accuracy, even in the factory Sako TRG-S m995 hammer forged barrels, it consistently shot sub moa 1/2" to 1/4" groups with hunting bullets, 180 gr & 200 gr Accubonds & A-Frames in the 3 rifles I messed with all shot better than most of my custom built guns with target bullets at the time ...

Most of the negative bs around the 7.82 Warbird was fueled by jealousy and sissy Nancy's terrified of recoil and loud noises, both of which are common in large magnum cartridges ......, my bro & I hunted Alaska with factory Sako TRG-S m995 7.82 Lazzeroni Warbirds for 10-12 years, killed a bunch of moose, griz, deer, black bear, wolves, coyotes, cranes etc... no muzzle brakes and alway loaded it hot for maximum velocity that it works best at for extreme accuracy and single digit sd's, most well designed cases run best at peak performance levels... the only issue surrounding the Warbird was the brass..... to reach the famed 3500 fps with 180 gr bullets ... you sacrificed the brass to two firings ..... now back in 2003 a 20 pc box of new empty cases at $99.99 was considered a lot of cash, the original brass was made by MAST Tech and is no longer made, new stuff is supposedly made by Hornady for Lazzeroni, heard it was better but I have not had the chance to try it yet to make any comments

NOW we "Circle back" and all of a sudden it is in vogue to send 30 cal bullets screaming downrange at 3500 fps .......


Need I remind y'all that John Lazzeroni designed an awesome 6.5 cartridge that was totally blasted by everyone at the time but now is considered the Holy Grail of 6.5's since wHorenady hijacked it in the form of 6.5 PRC ?

How many of you will champion the next "new" 30 cal magnum copycat because wHorenady did it ?

nothing new under the sun indeed .....


one thing I want to point out is that you CANNOT use 33xc brass to "Neck it down and shorten it" to make Warbird brass ... completely different web & rim dimensions on the two, the 33xc is based on the 338 Lapua case stretched to CheyTac length with different top of body, neck length and shoulder dims and is NOT usable to form Warbird cases.....
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sooooo, just build a 30 xc! it is new. beltless. cool, designed by tubb, no slouch. equal performance
 

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